Geoff Vowden

Geoff Vowden
Personal information
Full name	Geoffrey Alan Vowden
Date of birth	27 April 1941 (age 83)
Place of birth	Barnsley, England
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Jersey D.M.
	Nottingham Forest
Senior career*
Years	Team
1960–1964	Nottingham Forest
1964–1971	Birmingham City
1971–1974	Aston Villa
1974	New York Cosmos
1974–1975	Kettering Town
Total
Managerial career
1974–1975	Kettering Town
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Geoffrey Alan Vowden (born 27 April 1941) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City and Aston Villa,^[1] and in the North American Soccer League for the New York Cosmos.^[2]

Career

Vowden was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire and raised in Jersey. When he was 18, he went to England to join Nottingham Forest, where he signed professional forms at Christmas 1959. After scoring 40 goals in 90 League games for Forest, he was sold to Birmingham City for £25,000 in October 1964.^[3]

He spent nearly seven seasons at Birmingham, scoring at a rate of one goal every three matches,^[3] and finished as their leading goalscorer three seasons running, from 1964–65 to 1966–67.^[4] On 7 September 1968, playing for Birmingham against Huddersfield Town in the Second Division, he became the first substitute to score a hat-trick in a Football League fixture.^[5]

In March 1971, Vowden joined Aston Villa for a fee of £12,500. In his first full season at Aston Villa, he scored 11 goals which contributed to the club winning the Third Division championship.^[3]^[6]

In the summer of 1974, he played for the New York Cosmos in the North American Soccer League.^[2] On his return, he joined Southern League club Kettering Town as player/manager, succeeding Ron Atkinson, in December 1974.^[7] He later coached domestically and in Hong Kong winning honours with both Bulova SA and South China, and Saudi Arabia.^[3] Geoff ended his working career supporting adults with physical and sensory impairments in Corby.

Honours

Aston Villa

Third Division: 1971–72

References

^ "Geoff Vowden". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
^ ^a ^b "North American Soccer League Players: Geoff Vowden". NASL Jerseys. Dave Morrison. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
^ Matthews, pp. 200–02.
^ Thomson, Doug (2 September 2006). "Caught in time 1968". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 2 September 2015 – via The Free Library (Farlex).
^ "Vowden, Geoffrey Alan (Geoff)". Aston Villa Player Database. Jörn Mårtensson. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
^ "Kettering Town Football Club Managers". poppiesfans.com. Retrieved 19 March 2010.